Former governor of Kano State and senator representing Kano Central, Ibrahim Shekarau, has decried Nigeria’s high cost of governance.

Consequently, Shekarau, who spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday night, advised President Bola Tinubu to cut down the number of federal lawmakers.

He said: “Left to me, we don’t need to have the two chambers, the two houses. It’s costing the country. I agree, a democracy means getting as many involved as possible, but the way it is going on now, it’s almost 500 legislators nationwide; I don’t think we really need this much at the moment.”

The two chambers of the National Assembly is made up of 109 senators and 360 House of Representatives members, bringing the total number of federal lawmakers to 469.
He, however, expressed doubt if President Bola Tinubu could muscle the political will to do this and other constitutional amendments that would be beneficial to the country.
Shekarau argued further that cutting the number of parastatals would affect the number of oversight assignments, reducing the burden on the nation.
“Then you’ll discover that the legislative arm will also have to be downsized because if there isn’t much to do at the centre, you don’t need all of this sea of hundreds of people really to do oversight assignments.

“I have been subscribing to the idea of devolution of powers. The Federal Government should really cut its own costs by devolving a lot of these responsibilities down the line, to the states and to the local governments,’’ he said.
According to him, the Federal Government is spending “so much” at the centre and creating too many agencies and parastatals.
He said: “Unfortunately, we’ve not had leadership that has the courage. There was the Oronsaye report during Jonathan’s time, which has yet to be implemented.
“Former President Goodluck Jonathan did not implement it; former President Muhammadu Buhari did not implement it.
“The moment you create a parastatal, you’re already talking of board members, chief executive, directors, departments, and the overhead cost of running all these agencies add quite a lot to the expenses of running the government.”

He said cutting down on the number of federal lawmakers and reducing the number of parastatals and agencies would save the country money to be ploughed into areas, including education, health and other social services.

A former Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, has said that Nigeria’s constitution remained supreme in his quest to contest the Senate Presidency.

The PUNCH reports that the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress had adopted Senator Godswill Akpabio and Jubrin Barau as the preferred candidates for the position of Senate President and Deputy, respectively.

Yari, during a courtesy call on the leadership of the New Nigeria People’s Party in Abuja on Thursday night, said he would continue to speak with relevant stakeholders.

Accompanied by a former chairman of the Senate Committees on Gas and Housing, Senator Osita Izunaso, Yari said some people were using religion to disenfranchise credible candidates.

The former governor said he would visit the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party, Labour Party, Young People’s Party, All Progressives Grand Alliance and the Social Democratic Party, to solicit their support.

He said, “The constitution is supreme to any other law. Any law that is not in tandem with the Constitution is null and void. We are very committed to the Nigerian project. We strongly believe that the Constitution is going to prevail.

“We are going to get to the floor of the House and the election will take place. And knowing that it is a democratic setting, we need to be having this kind of engagement.

“This is my first place of call. But I will also visit other parties; Labour Party, SDP, PDP, APGA and YPP and seek the support of their members on this project.

“That is to show to you that the 10th Assembly is completely different in that we knew that we have 7 parties. The vote of every party counts and it is critical to us.

“We are going to continue with this struggle until we get there. It is not over until it is over.

“The most important and encouraging is the president’s speech that he is going to rule Nigeria according to the constitution of Nigeria.”

The acting national chairman of the NNPP, Abba Kawu-Ali, described Yari as a competent leader “capable to occupy the sit of the senate Presidency.”

He said, “Yari has shown his capacity as a two-term governor of Zamfara State, we are confident that when you get there you won’t fail.”

•S-West senators consider fresh option •As Ndume counters claim, says it’s not true

ABUJA- Strong indications, yesterday, suggested that the candidacy of former Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, may have hit a brick wall as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is said to have withdrawn his support for him in the contest for the Senate President in the 10th National Assembly.

Recall that the All Progressives Congress, APC, had announced the endorsement of Senator Godswill Akpabio and three others for the topmost positions in the National Assembly.

Senator Akpabio from South-South was endorsed for Senate president, Senator Jubrin Barau from North-West for Deputy Senate President, Tajudeen Abass, North-West for speaker, House of Representatives and Kanu, South-East, for deputy speaker.

This did not, however, go down well with some members of the party, especially those aspiring for the position of presiding offices in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, following the protests and condemnation that trailed the party’s endorsements.

It was gathered yesterday that senators, mainly from the South West, have called for a meeting for tomorrow, where they would take a decision to work towards reviewing their position on choice of leadership of the Senate.

According to a senator from one of the states in the South West, the meeting is for senators from the zone to know the outcome of a crucial meeting of the leading tendency among the senators-elect scheduled for Thursday which they have strategically asked some of their members to attend.

President Bola Tinubu is said to have heeded the advice of his trusted political allies by tacitly withdrawing his support for the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

The President, sources said, was resolute in running a corruption-free government, with emphasis on strengthening all the existing policies and institutions concerned with anti-corruption towards achieving this goal.

In his inaugural speech, Tinubu declared pointedly that his government would take” proactive steps such as championing a credit culture to discourage corruption, while strengthening the effectiveness and efficiency of the various anti-corruption agencies.”

With this statement, the source said ”most of us have come to the full realization of the fact that President Bola Tinubu would not for anything support any senator with myriads of cases of corruption in the anti-graft agencies after declaring before the world that he would strengthen and make them more effective.”

A senator from one of the state in the S-West confided in Vanguard: “We have seen the follies in remaining in this camp, it will not work. We have fixed a meeting for Thursday where we are going to chart our next line of action.”

However, the Director General for the Akpabio/Barau Stability Group, Senator Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South, said in his reaction to the development yesterday: “It is not surprising that whenever a politically exposed person is contesting elections, some people would be sponsored to raise issues against him or her.

“Don’t forget that President Bola Tinubu was also severally accused when he was campaigning to be president.”

“We are not actually bothered about what the sponsored groups are saying about Akpabio, the anti-graft agencies know what to do. Why are they teaching them what to do?

“They are alleging that some corrupt activities took place under his watch at the NDDC but they did not say he misappropriated funds as governor or as minister.

“Akpabio was not the accounting officer of the NDDC, he only supervised the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.

“They also accused him of not constituting the board of the NDDC but that also was not his job. The president of the country is saddled with such responsibility.”